Freaks: B
After seeing a preview a while back, Freaks fell off my radar. It just popped up as iTunes' Movie of the Week so I gave it a try on AppleTV.
Vaguely similar to 10 Cloverfield Lane, the protagonist of Freaks is a little girl whose father has always kept her hidden in their house; she's never set foot outside. He tells her there are bad guys out there that would kill them both if they were found out. Her dad constantly quizzes her about their cover story and roleplays "normal real-world interactions" with her.
So. Obviously where there's smoke there's fire or else it would be a pretty boring movie, but I won't say much more because part of the enjoyment of the movie is finding out what's really going on.
Freaks is interesting and well-done. It's well-paced and it has good actors and a good story. On the downside it feels overly left-brained and clinical in its execution with too much of a focus on the mechanics of things; it doesn't feel as emotionally engaging or fulfilling as it could have. Too much head and not enough heart. A lot of films seem have the opposite problem, if anything, so it's perhaps refreshing in that sense.
There are only a few main actors but I liked them all. Lexy Kolker does a great job as the main girl and then most all of the other main actors are notables (for me at least):
- Emile Hirsch from Speed Racer.
- Amanda Crew from Silicon Valley and She's the Man.
- Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica.
- Aleks Paunovic from Van Helsing.
It was good to see them all!
To sum it up, Freaks is a solid sci-fi movie. It's not a must-see but it's worth a look!